Hikari,Shinji,Satoshi Love or Friendship?
by Writer under training
Summary: Dawn is a florist, who lacks the confidence to follow her mother's footsteps. Paul thinks his life has been ruined because of the troublesome girl that entered his life. Ash is emotionally scarred and financially burnt after a certain incident that robbed him of everything. Watch as the three struggle wth their lives in the busy city of Jubilife. IkariShipping and Pearlshipping!
1. Chapter 1

**I have posted this new fic months ago and deleted it because I thought I would abandon it. Guess who decided to revive it?**

**Anyway this is a new story that wouldn't last more than a few chapters (I say that every time and suddenly the plot thickens).**

**This story is essentially an Ikari Shipping, PearlShipping love triangle set in an AU world where Pokémon don't exist. The main characters are all 23, and don't worry about Japanese names, I use them because they turn me on (No, I am just kidding...or not.) but they will be used moderately. They are more like nicknames in this story.**

**Also yes, it's a pure shipping fic...NO POKEMON. I can add a few references though.**

**Hikari…Shinji…Satoshi!**

**Chapter One: The crazy stalker from Jubilife!**

Then there was a charming prince.

For some reason, those words didn't seem like the beginning words of a story. Rather they seem to have been picked randomly from a paragraph in the middle of the story. Nevertheless, it was the beginning of her story.

Then there was a charming prince.

He stood in the distant darkness along the empty road. There weren't any streetlights ahead that could discern what stood in the darkness. Only his silhouette was visible. There was no way she could know that he was a charming prince, but she simply knew.

She stood there, watching him in awe as the charming prince slowly made his way towards her.

Her heart fluttered. Without a doubt, the man was coming for her, to take her into his arms, to kiss her and to…love her.

She remained firm at where she stood, strategically under the only streetlight in the otherwise empty road. There was nothing behind her, and what lay ahead was only the charming prince coming for her.

Her breath was no longer rhythmic; the excitement was pounding her chest as the man closed down the distance between them. She eagerly looked at him as the light finally shed the man's face that was hidden in the dark silhouette into light. She expected, a charming princely man, with a ruffled raven-hair, with perfect brown eyes that looked at her with love except—

The guy before her had a hair that was some dark shade of a green, he had a thin frame that was completely unlike the prince she imagined, he wore glasses that could only brand him as nerdy, and had a maliciously devious smile on his face, "Hikari-san, how are you on this wonderful night?"

* * *

I woke up with a sudden jolt and sat upright. My heart was pounding like crazy, as if it wanted to rip my chest apart and jump outside. I was breathing at a faster rate than I should.

I found myself, sitting on the bed I was sleeping on. There was a table to my left, the alarm clock showed the time to be 7:06 AM. The room was dim, with a hint of bright sunlight that leaked inside as the curtain to my window fluttered with the morning breeze.

I took a heavy breath and let out a sigh, "So that was just a dream?"

Pushing the drowsiness away with a stretch of my muscles, I jumped onto my feet, walked up to the window, and spread the curtains apart as I let the light take over the darkness in my room.

Walking up to the dresser, I did the first important thing I always did when I wake up.

Comb my hair.

That's right. I haven't introduced myself, have I?

My name is Dawn Berlitz, my friends like to call me Hikari but I prefer Dawn. People call me cheerful, optimistic, sweet and even beautiful. Flowers are what I like the most, but I like penguins better. I am planning to raise one as a pet if I get my hands on any. Do you have one?

Although, my Mom says it is impossible for me to get one because Penguins don't actually like hot climates. Speaking of my Mom, she's probably preparing breakfast for the two of us by now. Dad's left for Jubilife for some important meeting.

Tying up my hair, I prepared to go for a bath when my eyes fell on the calendar that hung to the wall. The date April 12th was circled off with a black marker.

Of course, I completely forgot about it. Today is April 12th, the day that was circled off in the calendar, the day that was of utmost importance to me.

The day I was going to meet him after two years of gap.

* * *

The raven-haired man took a deep sigh as he watched the familiar streets of his hometown, Twinleaf Town. He had left the town, with nothing in his hands but a stack of bills and some change stuffed into his pocket, and he was back with less than that.

In the name of getting rich as fast as he could, he went to Jubilife and started a small business of his own. Like most people claim in the business articles, he expected himself to turn into a multi-millionaire in two years.

Well becoming a multi-millionaire in two years was a far-fetched dream, but Ash at least saw some steady progress in his life and that was until he decided to expand the business and join two more people into his company.

Jessie, James. Those were the names that doomed him to hell. They were swindlers who robbed naïve people like him for a living. Jubilife was far too a big city to catch people once they disappear with your investments. And that's when he realized he was a lot worse than when he began two years ago.

He was 23, unemployed, and his education abruptly ended in high school and he was no way prepared to do small time jobs that gave him only enough money to eat some food and pay rent. Life wasn't shedding much positive light onto him.

He wished that for all eternities he wouldn't have to ever return back to Twinleaf, but he had to. Because he had no other choice, and more importantly because he had promised that he would be back for her in two years.

* * *

The purple-haired man wasn't happy at all. In fact, there was no bone inside his body that actually cared about what was going on around him. The black business suit he wore only made him uncomfortable as he had to constantly adjust the tie whose sole purpose seemed was to put him on a leash and suffocate him.

He was in the conference room of the Shinji Corporation, along with his older brother, Reggie and a blue-haired man who wore a white lab coat in contrast to the black suit Paul and his brother wore.

Paul was what one would call a grumpy faced man. It wasn't that he was born with an ugly face or something, he simply had a constant frown on his face that made him look grumpy. In fact it was a wonder that there weren't any wrinkles on his face despite all the frowning.

Reggie, although truthfully was similar to Paul in appearance, the thick purple brows he shared with Paul didn't end up in a frown, and there was always a pleasant smile on his face.

"I'm really thankful, Dr. Berlitz," Reggie shook hands with the blue haired Professor as either men stood up, marking the end of their private meeting.

"It's my pleasure, Mr. Veilstone," the man smiled back. He turned to Paul, who reluctantly stood up and shook hands with him. "I'm looking forward to meet you tonight, Paul. I'd like to introduce you to my daughter."

As soon as the man left, Reggie spoke, "Paul, I thought we talked about this."

The purple-haired man shrugged, "What?"

"You know what I'm talking about," Reggie frowned. "I told you this is an important contract. If we could merge our company with—"

"I know," Paul cut his brother off. "And that's why I've agreed to sit in this stupid meeting."

Reggie gave his brother an exasperated look. "You could have at least pretended that you cared. The whole merger centered on this meeting. The least you could've done is give a smile when he talks to you."

"I _was_," Paul stressed, "Until, he started trying to hook me up with his daughter."

Reggie rubbed his temples as he sat down on the chair. His younger brother had always been a sort of pain in the ass for Reggie. He hardly associated with people, and when he did, it always ended up into a disaster. Reggie looked after his brother when they were kids because he understood Paul's introvert personality came from the fact that they lost their parents in quick succession. But as they grew older, the small character quirks evolved into a troublesome personality.

Paul was intelligent, and one of the prime reasons their business flourished. But he hardly had any respect for those around him; he was a failure at coordinating people and hated the idea of merging with any other company.

But Dr. Berlitz made an amazing breakthrough in the area of bio-engineering. Many companies jumped to seize the opportunity, but the Shinji Corporation managed to gain Dr. Berlitz's attention thanks to Reggie exploiting his weakness, his daughter. Both Paul and Dr. Berlitz's daughter were of the same age, and certainly the probability of having his daughter married with one of the managing partners of a multi-national company was something no father would overlook. Besides, Reggie heard that the woman was in fact a beauty like her mother Johanna who was one of the Miss Sinnoh contenders back in her time.

Of course, Reggie had put this as a secret because knowing his brother he'd rather leave the Shinji Corporation and run away forever before going on a date with a girl.

"Look, he just wants you to meet his daughter," Reggie tried putting a convincing act for his brother. "That doesn't mean you are going to marry her or something."

Paul loosened the tie and unbuttoned the collar. "Do you take me for an idiot, Reggie?" Paul asked. "I know what the hell's on your stupid mind. You are planning to sell me off for some money-fetching patent."

"She's beautiful," Reggie argued, "Their family has a good reputation. You can hardly find girls better than her."

"Then why don't you go and marry her?" Paul yelled, annoyed by his brother's attempts.

Reggie raised an eyebrow at this. "Seriously?"

"Yeah," Paul scoffed. "But I think Maylene will end up killing you first."

"Look Paul," Reggie said not letting Paul have the final say, "You don't have a fair excuse to avoid this. You're going to Mr. Berlitz's house and that's that."

Paul grumbled at this. "Fine."

But it definitely wasn't. "And," Reggie said, handing him a photo. "Just so that you don't embarrass yourselves, that's a family photo of Mr. Berlitz with his wife and daughter. I have written their address on the back side."

Paul looked at the photo with disinterest. The photo contained Mr. Berlitz in the center, along with a blue-haired middle aged woman to his right and a similar looking blue-haired young girl to his left. They all had a cheeky smile on their faces that instantly caused Paul to hate them.

He absolutely hated when people smiled for no reason and by extension he hated photographs.

* * *

Dawn worked as a florist under Gardenia, who owned a shop in the local market. It could be considered a strange choice of career for someone who was the daughter of a scientist who made and was making revolutionary breakthroughs in his field and a former Miss Sinnoh. But she was content with it, and that's what mattered.

"Do whatever makes you happy," it was the motto Dawn carried and it was the reason why she believed she was the happiest person on the entire planet.

Seven years ago, when she was sixteen and when Dawn was pushed by everyone around her to follow her mother's footsteps, her fashion career ended up getting crushed in the beginning itself. In a local competition for young teenage girls, she tripped on one of her heels on the stage and made a mess of herself.

Dawn became depressed after that, knowing that she was an utter failure. A strange sense of impassiveness filled her and suddenly she was unable to enjoy her life.

That was when she met Ash.

Ash was a high school dropout, who believed the sole purpose of life was to enjoy it to the fullest and make everyone around happy. He changed her life, and transformed her from a gloomy defeatist to a cheerful girl she was right now.

He quickly became her best friends along with Zoey, a co-worker in Gardenia's Eden Garden.

But life wasn't always fair. As they grew older, Ash was shown that survival was one of the more important factors in life too. Dawn who belonged to a relatively rich family didn't know much of this. Ash's dad passed away when he was ten, and his mother took the burden of raising him by running a restaurant in Twinleaf.

Ash didn't like the harshness of his reality and tried escaping it by spending his time with his friends. But it caught up to him in the end, and when he turned 21 he realized he was getting nowhere in his life.

"Don't worry about me," he said two years ago as they parted. "I'm not planning to spend my whole life earning money. I'm going to Jubilife, and find a way to get a lot of cash. Then I'm going to come back, love a girl, marry her and be happy for the best of the life."

Dawn believed him, like she always did. She had utmost respect for Ash as he was the one who completely changed her view of the world. '_Maybe', _she thought. _'I could be that girl.'_

That was two years ago, when her feelings on him were pretty jumbled up. Even now she wasn't sure how she viewed him. As someone she could love or just a friend? He occasionally crept into her dreams, but most of them always ended up with Conway or Kenny shattering them into nightmares.

But none of that mattered right now. All that mattered to her was that she missed him, his cheerful smile, his naïve attitude towards life and how he managed to make everyone around him smile. And she was going to see that smile again. She even put her phone on silent so that her mother wouldn't annoy her with stupid calls.

Dawn was waiting in the Sandgem station where the hourly trains from Twinleaf arrived at. The train was due to arrive in five more minutes. She looked at the board, to see if there was any change in the train arrivals.

Much to her dismay, there was a change. The special express from Jubilife that was running half an hour late was going to arrive first, and for that reason the Twinleaf train was postponed for another ten minutes.

"Aw," she groaned looking at her watch. She had been waiting for two years, but suddenly ten minutes seemed like hell to her. Dawn was genuinely mad at the railway department.

* * *

As the Jubilife-Twinleaf special express approached the Sandgem Town, Paul felt himself turning more and more nervous. The whole dinner was a set up. His brother purposefully sent him alone so that by some magic or the other the Berlitz were going to seduce him into loving that cheeky girl and then marry her.

Of course that wasn't going to happen. There was a reason he was known as the 'cold hearted asshole' in high school and college. Because he always succeeded in making a girl cry every semester without fail.

He looked at the photo his brother gave him earlier. He had to admit, the girl looked beautiful. Her blue haired matched with the light blue dress she wore along with the matching hat. If he weren't Paul Veilstone, he'd have probably been infatuated by now.

As his thoughts trailed off, the phone in his pocket buzzed with vibration. Paul swiped the phone lock with his thumb and put it to his ear, "Why the heck are you calling me for every ten minutes?"

"Because I don't want you to screw up," Reggie spoke on the other side. "Look, you know the weight of this merger. Our company's sales are going to shoot up into the sky if we see this through."

"Fine," Paul said, irritated as he heard the same thing for the umpteenth time in the past one hour.

"I just don't want to mess up with the Berlitz family," Reggie's voice was close to pleading. Somehow Paul felt bad, despite being the coldhearted guy he was supposed to be.

"Alright, alright," Paul sighed, trying his best to sound reassuring. "I'll do my best not to screw up," he said. _'Unless they try something too obvious to get me with that girl in the photo.'_

* * *

Dawn watched as the Jubilife express stopped on the only platform of the Sandgem Station. The doors opened and suddenly tons of people rushed out of the train while a considerably less amount of people tried to get back in. Sandgem Town was only three hours away from Jubilife so most people who belonged to Sandgem and went to Jubilife to get a job usually return on the weekends to spend time with their families. Considering today was Friday, that was no surprise to her.

She watched as the crowd passed past her to the exit of the platform. Most of them were middle-aged men who were probably returning back to their wives after the weekdays of work in Jubilife. Amidst these men however, Dawn noticed a strange presence among the crowd.

He was about her age, and obviously looked out of place among with the day workers around. He wore a purple jacket that seemed really expensive in her eyes. He wore it over a black shirt that matched with his dark jeans. The complexion of his jacket matched with his hair color, and the thick eyebrows.

When the man's eye met with hers, he gave her an incredulous look as if she was doing something terrible. Now that was a strange look coming from a complete stranger.

He walked towards her, the frown on his face only amplified as he came closer. For a second, Dawn looked back wondering if there was someone standing behind her, but there was no one. The guy was definitely coming for her.

He now stood before her, giving her the same grumpy frown he carried since he saw her. Dawn had to look up to make eye contact with him. He was slightly taller than her, around 5'8'' or something, she guessed.

A strange kind of silence stood before them. Dawn really didn't know what was up with him. Why would a stranger see her, then frown at her, and then walk towards her and _not_ start a conversation. It was completely beyond her.

But Dawn decided to be her usual cheerful self. "Um, excuse me?" She gave him a smile. "Anything I can help you with?"

For some strange reason, the guy's eyebrow twitched. Why was he glaring at her like that? And what kind of a person twitches his eyebrow when you greet him with a smile?

"I came here for dinner," he said, "And that's the only thing I would have."

Dawn was befuddled. What he spoke made less sense than his actions. "O-Of course," she said. He was probably a nut case, she thought. "There are many good spots for dinner in Sandgem."

"Oh," the man raised his eyebrow at this. "So we are directly going on a date? I thought we'd have dinner with your family."

Date?

"Um, excuse me," she gave him another smile. "I'm not quite sure if I understand what you are saying."

The frown on his face only grew deeper. "Are you crazy or something?"

"Excuse me?" Dawn placed her hands on her hips, giving him a stern glare. "I think I'm supposed to ask that question. Are you nuts?"

"There you are," he smirked for some reason. "The true color behind that stupid smile you have," he said showing her a photo. Dawn recognized the photograph immediately. It was the family photo they took in Cinnabar Island when they went on a holiday trip.

"Why do you have my photo?" She asked, obviously surprised. She had a sinking feeling that he could he be a stalker. If that were true, she might have to consider kicking him in the _nuts_ and run away.

"You're really a _nut_ case aren't you?" He said, giving her a strange yet devious smile. For some reason his comment gave a chill down Dawn's spine.

And then surprisingly, the guy walked past her as if nothing happened between them and disappeared as he exited the platform.

* * *

**Rewinding a bit….**

Paul stepped out of the Jubilife Special Express onto the Sandgem station Platform. He was confident that given the stupid grins the entire family carried in their photo, they'd definitely try something incredibly unfunny—this normally means a welcoming banner or something of that sort. In the worst case, they'd even arrange a musical band or something. He only wished to god that they wouldn't do anything that cheesy and actually let him find their home on his own.

No sooner did he thought so, his eyes fell on a certain blunette standing alone in the platform obviously waiting for someone.

They did it.

They in fact did it in the worst way possible.

They could have sent a welcoming banner and he would have simply tried not to look at it. They could have sent a musical band, and then he'd have simply covered his ears. But of all the worst things the Berlitz family could do, they had sent their daughter to pick him up. The very girl he was supposed to be hooked up with, and they even went as far as sending her alone.

It was not cheesy anymore, it was atrocious. Crimes like these should be punishable with death.

He walked towards her, as he preferred it over watching her do some cutesy girly walk that would somehow end up creeping their way into his subconscious.

As he came closer, the girl turned back for some reason. Now why would she do that? Probably Mr. Berlitz was watching his daughter from some distance in order to review her performance. Yes, that was a certain possibility.

He remained silent because it was obvious that she would say something to start the conversation with. He expected something flirtatious coming onto him. "Um, excuse me?" She gave him a smile. "Anything I can help you with?"

That smile! He absolutely hated when girls giggled in high school, he hated it when girls giggled in college, and he hated it when women giggled in his office.

The girl seems to have been disturbed by the twitch of his eyebrow because she was now giving him a strange look.

He had to make it clear, because Paul didn't like unnecessary misunderstandings that always ended up comedy for someone else at his expense.

"I came here for dinner," he said, "And that's the only thing I would have."

The girl looked baffled. Of course, for someone as beautiful as her, she never might have been on the cold side of taking responses. There was a reason people feared him.

To her credit, the youngest Berlitz recovered from his shock treatment. "O-Of course," she said. "There are many good spots for dinner in Sandgem."

She has a way with words, Paul concluded. She was covert enough to take his cold response by suggesting a one on one dinner with him. But that wasn't what he signed up for, was it? Reggie explicitly said it was a family dinner. They couldn't have made more obvious attempts.

"Oh," he raised his eyebrow. "So we are directly going on a date? I thought we'd have dinner with your family."

"Um, excuse me," she gave him another smile. "I'm not quite sure if I understand what you are saying."

Ah, that stupid smile again. Every time she smiles she was lying, he deduced. She was trying to playing innocent, she'd perhaps say that her father told it was a date and not a family dinner. If he were anything less than Paul, he'd melt for her and then go for a date with her.

_'I know your games Berlitz,'_ he thought. He had the right response to hit her with—

"Are you crazy or something?" He frowned, just to add the feeling that he was being serious.

His direct insult brought a considerable response from her. "Excuse me?" She placed her hands on her hips, giving him a stern glare. "I think I'm supposed to ask that question. Are you nuts?"

"There you are," he smirked as he victoriously exposed the Berlitz's inner character that was hidden deep under a façade of lies. "The true color behind that stupid smile you have," he said showing her the photo in his pocket.

"Why do you have my photo?" She asked, pretending to be surprised.

_'Oh, of course you have nothing to do with the photo, you absolutely didn't know that your dad sent it to my brother. As if I would believe that bullshit!'_

"You're really a _nut_ case aren't you?" He smiled when he said so. The longer the girl would continue the stupid game of lies the more she would get hurt.

The woman's face went white at his comment. She obviously didn't anticipate that. Now since she's pretending that she came to the station alone, he'd have to simply walk outside the station and then Dr. Berlitz would just happen to come by and would be pretended to be surprised to see his daughter.

He spent only five minutes with the Berlitz family and he was already sick of it.

* * *

"Oh my god," Dawn muttered at the close encounter. She would have to report in the police station as soon as she could. She had more stalkers than she initially anticipated. This one seemed particularly dangerous.

She turned forward, just in time as the doors of the train opened. Immersed in the tense encounter she had with the strange purple haired stalker she actually forgot about Ash. The Jubilife had already left and the Twinleaf Train was now on the platform.

"Hikari!" A familiar greeting rang through her ears as she spotted as a raven-haired man walk towards her, his usual sheepish grin spread on his face.

"Ash!" She waved back.

And then she felt something. It was similar to what she felt in the dream she had last night or rather today morning to be precise. Till now she knew she missed him, but she didn't know how much.

And now she did….she missed him a lot.

Without any forethought or afterthought she lunged towards the approaching raven-haired man and jumped onto him, effectively tackling him onto the ground.

Yes, she missed him that much.

**Eh, I didn't go into the cheesy stuff yet and I'm already feeling cheesy. Anyway, if you like this do review, because reviews make me happy, but then they are very harmful for my semester grades too because I stop studying and think about the next chapter. **

**I have written Dawn's intro in first POV because I like it. The rest of the story will be in third person.**

**And, hey did I exaggerate Paul's character? Well most people tend to show him as a good guy in Ikarishipping fics, but I like to show him as an emotionally challenged person. ****Paul is also self-centered, and believes the world revolves around him.**

**Do note that all of these things do not mean he is a bad guy... :p**

**Well, review anyway :p**


	2. Best Friend or Girlfriend?

**Author's stupid ramblings: **Hi, here is the second instalment of my story. This chapter will feature a bit of Pearlshipping. Ikarishippers….you have to wait for your turn for a bit more. Dawn fans united get ready!

**~*~ 2. Best Friend or Girlfriend? ~*~**

Dawn wasn't sure what her feelings were at that moment as she kept looking at him. She missed them all, the happy grin on his face, the kind brown eyes and the disheveled raven hair that was a sign of his rebellious attitude….she really missed them all. Yes, she had made many friends throughout these two like her colleague Zoey, who introduced her to Candice and there many more in her list but _he_ was her first best friend. He showed her the light when she was in the dark. He was the person she would rely on, even in the deepest of her nightmares. He was no charming prince riding a white stallion, but he was Ash. She missed him, it was undeniable.

"Thank you," she said, resting her head on his chest. "For coming."

"Hikari," Ash said uncomfortably. "I know you miss me but…," he scratched his cheek, a sign of embarrassment. "I think you're forgetting something."

"Huh," she blinked for a second and looked around. She had completely forgotten that they were actually in the middle of a railway station, lying on the platform. The people around were watching them awkwardly. A few whispering into each other's ears and giggling, while a few with awe. "I'm sorry!" She said, jumping away from him. Her cheeks turned red as she rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "I guess I got carried away." It was amazing even to Dawn how she could always create situations that embarrass her in the worst way possible.

Ash chuckled at this, "Just like always," he said patting her head, something he did a lot often with her and only her. "You're always on the verge of extreme aren't you?"

That was true. She was either too happy and energetic at times or too sad and depressed. Perhaps the word moderate didn't exist in her dictionary. There was a reason why the people around her constantly worry about Dawn even though she assures them with her trademark 'No need to worry'.

"Alright then," he said, collecting himself to stand up. "Let's go, Hikari. We have a lot to catch-up, don't we?"

"Mhm," she nodded excitedly. But then, the strange person from earlier flashed in her mind, causing her eyebrows to join in a frown. The stalker, whoever he was seemed dangerous. She wanted to go to the police station and lodge a complaint, but then she would have to waste the little time she would have with Ash in two years. He had some sort of business in Jubilife, so apparently he wouldn't stay for much long. "When are you leaving for work again?" She asked, just to be sure.

For a second she saw some hesitation on his face. "I'll be here for a while," he said, frowning a bit.

For a while? "Is that okay?" She asked. "What about your business?" Whatever business he did, it wasn't a wise thing to leave up in the air, was it? She didn't know much about running a company or something, but she knew the entrepreneur would have to constantly monitor his business to run it well.

"Hikari," he said, reading her expression. He gave her his best smiles. "Let me worry about it, okay?"

She nodded. If Ash wasn't worried about it, then there must be no need to worry. He must have made some back up arrangements so that he could spend some time in Sandgem with her and in Twinleaf with his mother. He was probably taking some kind of a break from the hectic busy Jubi-'Life' He probably wants to keep work away from his mind and enjoy the time he would spend with her. She shouldn't be ruining it with stupid questions, right?

"So what's the plan?" He asked, as they walked out of the station. The station was crowded, owing to the fact that it was Friday evening. Most people were heading towards the main road, where a huge chain of Taxi Cabs were lined up, ready to receive the Friday evening rush.

"Well I was planning to surprise Mom," she said, opening her purse. She had hid the fact that Ash was coming so that it could be a wonderful surprise to everyone. "I'll call and tell her to make some extra dinner for the surprise guest." Her mother liked Ash, because if it weren't for him she would still be the gloomy girl who would rather spend her time in her room alone than go out and enjoy life. She would be really happy to see Ash come back.

Dawn took her phone out of the purse and turned the backlight on. Her eyes widened when she saw the message on the screen. "Fifteen Missed calls!" She exclaimed. "Oh, I forgot I put my phone on silent!" She said, dialing her mother's number. She was too excited to meet Ash, she had completely forgotten about it. She constantly told her mother to not worry about her too much, but it seems like she couldn't do anything to keep her mother from getting worried.

After a few periodic beeps, the phone finally connected with her mothers and gave a fervent ring. Not a moment later, her mother's familiar voice was on the phone. "Dawn! Where are you?!" Her mother's voice was close to hysteric. Knowing her she could have called all her friends by now.

Dawn exchanged a sheepish grin with Ash, "I'm sorry Mom. I was just—" she beamed at Ash. "Receiving a special guest."

Dawn expected her mother to be puzzled. But instead, "Ah," her mother hummed playfully. "Your Dad must have told you. So are you bringing the special guest home?"

Wait a minute.

"How did _you_ know?" She was befuddled. Her meeting Ash today was supposed to be a secret between them. And where did Dad come into the equation? Were they reading her dairy every day or something?!

"Don't worry about that, Dawn," her mother assured, "I've already planned a special course for him. Now hurry up and come back home!"Her mother seemed equally excited as her. "I'm pretty sure Pau—"

Dawn cut her mother in her excitement. "Really?!" She was jubilant. Well, her surprise was somehow ruined, but her mother must be cooking something really good to compensate it. She disconnected the call immediately and said excitedly, "Ash come on," she clasped his arm and started running towards the main road. "Mom's special course is waiting for you!"

Ash looked confused at first. "Special course?" Although his face brightened at the mention of food. "Then why are we still here?" He raised his own pace to keep up with her.

Dawn was glad that she had such an understanding mother. Despite her failures, her mother always supported her and even when she decided to ditch her education and become a florist, she had only supported with a smile.

If only Dawn knew that the whole conversation was a misunderstanding at that moment.

* * *

**A bit earlier…  
**  
Paul walked out of the station, a deep frown attached to his face. The Berlitz, he hated them. He hated them with a passion. He wanted to murder Reggie for putting him into this. If five minutes of talking with Dawn Berlitz left him with twenty years' worth of frustration, he couldn't imagine how spending the entire evening with the family would be.  
Well, if his predictions were correct Dr. Berlitz must be here somewhere around, keeping an eye on his daughter. Paul decided that he should try his best to avoid that man, take a taxi and find their damned residence. He could at least have some peace of mind on the way.

Unfortunately for him—"Paul," a voice greeted him. Taking a deep sigh and lamenting about his ill fate, he turned behind and found a man in white lab coat running towards him. _Does he ever leave that stupid coat?_ Dr. Berlitz had a smile that ignited the irritation inside Paul once more. "Ah, sorry I was late!" He apologized while catching for his breath. "I was stuck in a meeting."

Really?

Paul acknowledged the man's words with a wry smile. Dr. Berlitz however chuckled at this, "I guess Reggie was correct when he told me you're shy."

Paul's eyebrow twitched again. _'Damn you Reggie! Stop giving people information they don't need!' _He exclaimed on the inside. However his facial expression was as blank as ever. It was an amazing feat that was possible only to Paul.

"I don't like wasting my energy for meaningless chit-chat," he said, in an attempt to save his face. However he made it a point to say it with an indifferent and cold tone, thus it wouldn't sound like a weak attempt at defense.

_'You're dead, big brother.'  
_  
"Ah," Dr. Berlitz raised an eyebrow in interest. "It's funny. My daughter is just the opposite. She keeps blabbering all the time," he chuckled, as if it were a good thing.

There he goes. It must be a Berlitz thing to bring unrelated people into conversation in order to stick them into people's heads. They sure have a way with words.

A car then emerged out of the parking lot and stopped before the duo. Paul was glad the conversation was broken at that point. He definitely didn't want to hear about his nut case of a daughter any longer than he wanted.

As either of them took a seat inside the vehicle, Dr. Berlitz started, "Actually when she was six—"

God bless you, Reggie.

* * *

On their way from the Sandgem Station to her house, Ash suggested that it would be a good thing if they stopped at the high school they studied in and take a walk to her home from there. Dawn understood what he meant by that. He wasn't interested in the school itself rather he liked the long walk from the school to her house.

"Walking like this," Ash said as he examined the surroundings with delight. They were currently in the Sandgem Market which sported the biggest mall outside of Jubilife in West Sinnoh. "It reminds me of those days we used to skip classes with Kenny and Barry."

She nodded, "I remember them too," she said in a soft voice, filled with emotion unlike her usual cheerful self. "I didn't like skipping classes because I was afraid my Dad might get angry but you wanted me to skip them at least once before the term ended." Ironically, she skipped them almost every day after that. She stopped caring about the detentions, and she ignored when her father got mad at her every time because she knew he would always apologize for yelling at her the next day and gave her a present as an added bonus. She was in fact too addicted to that routine. She stopped being scared of the smallest things and faced life much more boldly. The one who taught her all that and made her truly enjoy her life was…Ash.

He laughed at this, rubbing his nose. "I was too carefree back then."

_Was?  
_  
"You know Hikari," he said, gazing at a distant building as they continued to walk. They've crossed the Sandgem Market and were almost close to the residential community. A little more and they would reach her home. "Life is more beautiful when we're kids, right?" He asked, as if it wasn't so anymore.

"What do you mean?" She asked, pretending to be angry. He was speaking as if they couldn't enjoy life anymore. "It's the same now and before. Nothing changed with us becoming adults." It wasn't like him to talk emotionally. Ash was light-hearted, cheerful and always made the most fun even out of troublesome situations.

He chuckled at this, giving the same carefree laugh that was more in-character than the emotional talk she saw earlier. She _missed_ that laugh. She always tried to laugh like that, but in the end she couldn't match up to him in terms of being cheerful. "I suppose I did say that," he smiled. "We only have one life, so let's enjoy it as much as we can." He repeated his own words for some reason, once again averting his gaze from her.

Yes, those were the words he said to cheer her up when she had lost any hopes on her future. Those were the words that defined her personality. Those were the words that shaped her up into the Dawn she was now. Those were the words that let her move forward.

"I've been following your words ever since then," she said, putting a smile onto her face. "I've become a florist in Sandgem." Not because she wanted to do some job, but because she liked that job.

"Florist?" Ash raised his eyebrows, his smile showed that he was pleased to hear it. "I see. You like flowers, right?"

She nodded. "I hardly earn much from it but, I'm still doing something I love to do." Her face beamed as she remembered something. "Ash, you should come with me to the nursery tomorrow. It's really beautiful. You're going to love it."

" Hikari," he smiled uncomfortably at this, "I'm not sure about that," he scratched his head, the usual goofy grin on his face.

Typical boy. Most men she knew act as if hanging around a nursery was a terrible thing. She never liked that attitude. What's so wrong with a guy hanging around in a flower garden and admiring their beauty?

"I was kidding Hikari," Ash chuckled, pulling her out of her thoughts. "I want to see you work anyway."

She pumped her fists at this, "I put my all when I do something I like. You must ask my colleague, Zoey."

"Sure I will," he said, patting her head as if she was some cute little puppy. He always did that whenever she tried acting tough. Maybe he found her cute that way. Maybe he liked her when she's confident and tough.

Dawn realized she was blushing, something she never did before they parted. She did her best to hide her expression by continuing to look down instead. "What about you?" She asked, trying her best to suppress the blush. "What do you do in Jubilife?"

Ash was taken aback by the question. She saw him hold his breath suddenly and his smile seemed to have disappeared too. Did she put that question rudely? She often did that. She blabbers too much occasionally and loses track of what she was speaking. "I…I run a restaurant," he said, facing the road again.

Dawn was more amused than surprised. How could a glutton like him run a restaurant? A sly smile spread across her lips. "Do you eat all the food you make or do you leave anything for your customers?" She mocked.

"I don't eat _that_ much," he pretended to pout before smiling again. "I try to keep my stomach under a leash. Besides I'm not the one who does the cooking"

He has a chef then? Of course. Ash knew nothing about cooking. But if he hired a chef, then the business might be pretty good. "It must be quite a big restaurant then," she guessed, trying to imagine Ash running a restaurant. She still couldn't picture him doing something serious like commanding the waiters to clean a particular table or the chef to hurry up with the cooking. No, she couldn't imagine him doing _any_ kind of work for that matter.

"It's not that big," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "But we're quite popular. Brock's cooking is amazing."

Brock must be his chef. "That sounds interesting," she said clapping in excitement. "I will visit your restaurant sometime. Where exactly is it in Jubilife?"

His face changed colors again. Was he uncomfortable with her line of questioning? But why? She could talk about the flowers she raises in the nursery all day if people were willing to listen. "Well…" he scratched his cheek nervously. "There's a place called Seventh Heaven downtown. You'll find my restaurant in the Diamond Plaza. It's a famous spot, you know?"

"Then you must be having quite a business," she said, hands behind her back. He did promise to earn as much as he could and get back to Sandgem after earning a good amount of money. So he was going in the right direction after all. "Ash you remember what you said two years ago, right?" She asked.

He nodded slightly, "I said I'll earn lots of money and settle in Sandgem," he said, watching the daylight that was slowly drifting towards night. "I won't forget that promise, Hikari."

"Yep," she said, shifting her gaze to the evening sky. A sudden excitement gushed into her at the thought of him staying in Sandgem forever. "If you earn a lot of money, you can come back sooner, and then you can buy a nice house like you planned and then marry me—"

Wait.

Dawn's face turned pale all of a sudden when she realized what she said. She closed her mouth immediately in surprise.

'_What the hell did I just say?!'_ He didn't tell he would marry her! He said he'd settle down with a girl! He didn't explicitly mean it was her. It was supposed to be her own fantasy!

Oh gosh, why doesn't her brain work as fast as her mouth?  
She realized either of them have stopped walking and were looking at each other. Ash stared at her, somewhat surprised by her sudden outburst. Her face turned red, "W…Wait," she said, starting to fiddle with her fingers nervously. "I…I didn't mean to….I…"

She looked at Ash, curious to see what his reaction was. If his expression was anything suggestive, he could probably like her too. Much to her dismay, his expression carried only surprise. There was nothing more. There weren't any other of those reactions she wanted him to have.

Instead he chuckled like he always did. "Hikari, I prefer to marry a girl who can cook for me," he teasing and playfully hitting her on the head. He knew she didn't know how to cook either.

He brushed away her tongue slip with a simple joke. The scene was almost similar to the situation where a little girl who's too young to know things says that she would marry her older brother but the older brother would simply laugh and brush it off with a joke.

Now that she thought about it, did Ash ever show any hints of liking her in any other way? He never did. He always cheered her up, encouraged her and…that was it. Even when they were in their teens he never crossed a line. Perhaps they were the only pair of teens in the whole world who didn't have an accidental romantic moment despite being so close to each other.

Maybe she was supposed to be a younger sister to him. Maybe she was nothing more than a good friend.

Then what was this sudden feeling she was having? Dismay? Disappointment?

She was hurt because of her own stupid assumptions. But she didn't deliberately force herself to think about him like that, she simply just…liked him. Maybe it was sibling love after all.

Oh god, she was twenty-three and she couldn't figure something so simple.

There was a good reason why her mother worried about her.

But she wouldn't let this burn her down. It was just a simple misunderstanding of her feelings, right? She has to brighten up or it would be an insult to Ash after he taught her how to smile. "Well I guess you're going to miss the most beautiful girl in Sinnoh then. You can't find better girls than me," she said in a tone that was mockingly arrogant. "So Ash," she said quickly diverting from the topic. "Tell me more about Jubilife."

It seemed like the longest walk of her life, even if it wasn't. She wished she could walk like that with him forever. But unfortunately the walk ended when they finally reached her home.

* * *

Johanna checked the time on the wall clock. It was five minutes past seven. It was about time her husband returned with the 'special guest'.

She was slightly worried about how her daughter was going to handle this 'Paul' guy. According to her husband, he seems to be unsociable and hard to talk with. A person like him would hate people who talk a lot, and unfortunately her daughter fitted that genre perfectly.

_Ding-Dong!  
_  
Johanna jumped as soon as the calling bell rang. She forced a welcoming smile for the guest as she opened the door.

Standing at the entrance was her husband in his usual white coat, something he parted with only when he was at home and beside him was a young man in his early twenties, who sported a purple hair with thick eyebrows and had a deep frown settled on his face.

"This is my wife Johanna," her husband introduced to the new person. "Former Miss Sinnoh," he said smiling at her proudly.

Her husband always loved mentioning that she was a Miss Sinnoh pageant winner. It was perhaps a boost to this strange pride most men carried. "Hi there, Paul," she greeted him with the best of her smiles and welcomed either of them inside.

"Hello," the sullen faced young man said in a disinterested tone. "Mrs. Berlitz," he added uncomfortably. It didn't take a second thought for Johanna to figure out that Paul was bad at making a conversation and lacked the proper social manners, something that could be related to the fact that the Shinji brothers were in fact orphans. Well Dawn could compensate for that though, the woman mused. Speaking of which….

She realized only two people came into the house when she opened the door. "Where is Dawn?" She asked, looking at both Paul and her husband. Dawn told she was with the 'special guest'. Then why wasn't she here?

"She's not at home?" Her husband looked confused. "Didn't you tell her about Paul?"

"I thought…" she paused. She was supposed to be with Paul, right?

She was about to inform Dawn about Paul on the phone, but Dawn told that she was already with the 'special guest'. Wait, what if there was some kind of misunderstanding? Dawn didn't know how Paul looked like, maybe she could have mistaken him for someone else. Oh god, what if she was with some stranger? Her fears were shared by husband, she realized when she looked into his eyes.

From the corner of her vision, Johanna noticed Paul's eyebrow twitch for some reason. Was he troubled by something? They shouldn't make him uncomfortable, especially because he seems to have a hard time socializing with people.

"I think she'll be back anytime," she said forcing a smile. "Why don't you make yourselves home, Paul?" She nodded her husband to give him company while she turned around to take the cordless phone. At that moment…

The door broke open, like it always did when Dawn entered the house. "Mom!" She exclaimed, exploding with energy. "Look who's here." She said pointing at the door.

Johanna's face lost color when she a familiar raven-haired man standing at the door, an apologetic smile on his face. He bowed down and greeted, "Good Evening, Mrs. Berlitz."

"Dawn," she looked at her daughter surprised. "When you said 'special guest', did you mean, Satoshi?"

"Right," she said, snapping her fingers. "You didn't see that coming did you?" She said twirling her long blue hair with her finger.

No, she didn't see it coming at all.

"I'm sorry for dropping in suddenly," Satoshi apologized. "Hikari told it would be nice to surprise you. I had to play along with her." He said, rubbing the back of his neck.

The difference between the cold Paul and Satoshi was truly astounding, the woman mused.

"Well Hikari," Johanna said, pointing at the other guest sitting on the couch by the living room, staring at Hikari and Satoshi with surprise. "We have someone else waiting for you."

"And who's that?" Dawn peeped behind her mother and noticed the man sitting behind. Her cheerful expression suddenly disappeared like a light bulb that just lost its fuse, and instead her face turned red with fury. Johanna realized something was really wrong. Dawn gave that reaction to people she truly hated. "Oh my god, it's him!" She yelled, pointing at their purple-headed guest.

Johanna saw three contrasting reactions at that moment. While Satoshi blinked at her strangely, Paul remained expressionless, although his eyes suggested that he was in fact surprised for some reason. Her husband's face on the other hand went pale. There was a good reason for that. Her husband had secret plans for hooking up Dawn with Paul. Paul was hard to convince, but their daughter was beautiful enough to change even someone stubborn like him or so her husband thought. Dawn wasn't interested in any other men, so there was a good chance she would accept marrying or at least dating someone coming from a successful family. At least that was the plan.

Of course yelling at someone like Paul was obviously not a good way to start a relationship.

On top of that, she even brought Satoshi. They couldn't exactly turn him away when he came back after two years, not after Dawn invited and brought him here. He changed their daughter's life drastically, and they were always grateful to him for that. But how would Paul and Dawn bond with Satoshi here?

This dinner was one heck of a mess.

Johanna placed a hand on her forehead. Her daughter _**never**_ managed to _**not**_ make a mess out of the most important events in her life.

She might constantly say 'No need to worry'. But with Dawn, there was always a need to worry.

* * *

**Author's Post Chapter Rambling** :

1)The next chapter will feature one of the strangest dinners in the history of the Berlitz family.

2)When Dawn accidentally says "Marry me" why was Ash's reaction so plain? Does he really view her as a little sister and nothing more than a friend? What else is Ash hiding from Dawn?

3) In the last leg of this chapter, Paul is unhappy because he assumes the Berlitz were playing some kind of drama to hook him up with their daughter. He's of course surprised when he sees her with Ash because all his theories are crushed the moment he sees them together.  
What kind of events will unfold when these three are together?

4) This chapter was rather slow. Look forward for the next chapter, lots of tension!

Hikari…Shinji...Satoshi…the real story begins now!

**Next Chapter**: The Disastrous Dinner!

* * *

**Extra Notes: **I'll explain a bit about my main characters because this is AU and not canon. The characters are slightly altered from their canon self, just to suit the story's needs.

**Dawn**: Dawn is extremely cheerful, extremely bright and outgoing. One could even call her hyperactive, but luckily she isn't as bad as Barry. She isn't clumsy, but she is a chatter box and once she opens her mouth, even she can't control it. She forgets her surroundings pretty easily and embarrasses herself most of the time.

Dawn's name is Dawn Berlitz, her nickname is Hikari.

**Satoshi**: Not much of his character is seen till now. But as far as Dawn knows he's a cheerful guy, an inspiration to her. He believes that life is meant to be enjoyed. He's a high school dropout. He wasn't a dud, but he hated working hard. He would rather risk himself from getting expelled than sit in History Class.

His nickname is 'Ash', because he thinks his actual name sounds boring. His father died when he was young, and his mother raised him by herself. Most adults refer to him as Satoshi while his friends call him Ash.

Ash is not as dense as he is in the canon. Because 1) He's 23. 2) He's not completely obsessed wit his goal like Canon Ash is.

There's more to this young man than the smiling Ash Dawn loves to see.

**Paul Shinji:** He's highly unsociable. He hates mixing with people. He would prefer reading books than play outside. He thinks all those people who smile are an enemy to him. It comes from the fact that he couldn't smile freely. He relies too much on his brother Reggie and uses him as his source of connection to the outside world. But Reggie who is newly married realized it was impossible for him to deal with his brother while in a relationship with Maylene. He decides to hook him with Dawn instead. Unfortunately he believes the whole world is wrong and he was right instead.

Paul hates any kind of girl because he strongly believes that they talk too much than necessary.

**Mr. Berlitz**: Extremely fond of his daughter. While he wants her to have a successful career, he agrees reluctantly when she decides to become a florist, a job that wouldn't earn her much money. But he would rather bear her burden than tell her to choose a better career. He's impossible to stop when he starts speaking about his daughter. He wants her to marry Paul because given her job she wouldn't be able to support herself unless she married someone rich.

**Johanna Berlitz**: Former Miss Sinnoh winner, a beauty even at an age of forty-eight. She had seen Dawn grow up much closer than her husband did. While her husband loved their daughter more, she understands Dawn better, which was why she was always worried about her. She knew Dawn would always run into one kind of trouble or the other if she's left alone. For that reason she likes Ash because it was after Dawn developing a friendship with Ash that Johanna stopped worrying about Dawn. Because she knew as long as Dawn was with him, he would take care of her. She doesn't like pressurizing Dawn to follow her footsteps and left her to decide her own way of living life.


End file.
